Viva América: Peruvian Adventures 2011

just to wrap things up...

I've been back in Toronto for a couple of days now, but it feels like forever. I'm slowly falling back into my endless routine of work work work, stress, stress, stress. But if Peru has taught me anything at all, that's to relax and take it easy. It's 3:37pm Toronto time, and I'm waiting patiently for my work day and week to wrap up so I can relax with CT for the weekend, (kind of). I work at my second job tomorrow, but for tonight I'll be catching up with some friends are our usual summer spot, Jake's Patio.

I'm currently riding a vacation-high, as I'm already starting to think of new places I'd like to travel to. I'd love to go to Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, New Zealand, and much more one day. For the rest of summer, if I can squeeze in some time, I'll spend a quiet weekend at a resort in Muskoka and unwind with CT.

When I'm bored at work, I think back on our time in Peru, and appreciate how wonderful and supportive every single person in the house and our program was to each other. We were each others' rocks and I wish everyone the best of luck in the future. I will hold on to our memories forever, and for the time being, we need to plan a reunion for mid-summer because I miss everyone already!

On another note, yesterday afternoon was CT's graduation! It gave me a reason to go down to campus and hang out. Everything is still the same, and the barista at the College Starbucks still remembers me! (it's always a warm feeling when that happens!) Congratulations to CT for sticking it out for 4 years, and I can't wait to watch you graduate from Teacher's College next year!

Pictures to come soon, probably after I've sat through my sister's graduation next week up in Waterloo though.

xoxo, -m

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Cusco, Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu

I've been away for a couple of days on a vacation, away from my other vacation!

Cusco was allllright. It's a beautiful place, but adjusting to the altitude and the cold weather drove me nuts! At night, the temperature drops all the way down to -10 degrees, while during the day, it's around 25-26 degrees. Our hostal was pretty shitty, with no heat (which might've contributed to how sick i am now, but that's another story).

We visited a bunch of Incan ruins, starting with the Temple of the Koricancha

Moving onto Sacsayhuaman,

and then Tambomachay to end the day

Day 2, we went on a tour of the Sacred Valley

the Pisac market and Ollantaytambo

View from Ollantaytambo

the view up top from Ollantaytambo

Day 3, we made our way to Aguas Calientes where we spend the day at the hot springs, relaxing before a long day at Machu Picchu in day 4.

Day 4, we woke up at 3:00 am, and lined up at the bus stop to secure a spot to be able to climb up Wayna Picchu. Only 400 people are allowed to climb up each day, and we wanted to make sure we had a spot. We arrived at Machu Picchu at 6am, and started the tour right away. The climb up Wayna Picchu was amazing. It took us around 45 minutes to make it up the mountain, it was tiring, but when we made it to the top, it was the most amazing feeling! It makes me want climb more mountains very soon! When we made it to the top, we sat off the edge of the mountain for around 1 hour, soaking up the sun and remembering how amazing it feels to look over Machu Picchu and how lucky we are to be in Peru.

on top of Wayna Picchu, just chilling.

Machu Picchu was a breathtaking, once in a lifetime experience. I will never forget the amount of effort it took to scale Wayna Picchu, and how close to death we were, every step we took!

On the train back to Cusco from Aguas Calientes, two people from our group got very very sick, and was vomiting the whole train ride back to Cusco (2 hours long). When we got back to Cusco, our bus wasn't there to pick us up, so we ended up getting into a random van to take us back to Cusco. The whole idea was super sketchy and we were all scared for our lives the whole 2.5 hours it took us to get back to Cusco. However, we made it and we're alive. Halfway through the bus ride back to Cusco, I started getting car sick and nauseous. I went straight to bed when we went back to our hostal but woke up a couple of times in the middle of the night to vomit. RP and I basically took turns throwing up all night, and woke up feeling like ass in the morning. On the flight back to Lima, I realized that I had a really bad fever and was hot and cold every few minutes. I slept all the way through our flight, but when I got up to de-board our flight, i got light-headed and really hot. It's safe to say that it was not a pleasant way to end a vacation.

Now, I'm sitting here after having slept for a few hours when we got back to Lima, on an empty stomach, hoping that tomorrow's flight back home won't be as miserable as today's.

See you all very soon! I can't wait to get back to Toronto to have a REAL shower, a REAL bed, to see my friends, family, CT and Elliott. I also can't wait to get a well deserved pedicure after roughing it for a month in Lima.

Lima, you were real good to me this past month, I'll see you again soon, but for now, hasta luego!

xoxo -m

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Packing for Cusco

alright, last night was a mess. But this morning was surprisingly not a hangover kind of morning. We went out to breakfast and had the best mango juice I've ever had in my life!

In the afternoon, we went up to San Cristobal, which is up the shantytowns and overlooks Lima. We took many pictures, but I haven't had the chance to upload them, so pictures to come soon either here or facebook!

I've just finished packing for Cusco, so I'll be MIA for the next 4-5 days. We fly at 6am, so we have to be at the airport at 4 am.

See you all soon, I'll be home shortly!

xoxo- manny

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Wastefest in Barranco....

HOLA AMIGOS!

long story short, it was a wastefest tonight at Barranco. We went bar hopping, and ate lots of carbs .

We got wasted, and wasted, and now I'm drunk blogging.

time for bed!

-xoxo, mannypants

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it's been a few days...

I've taken some time off from the blog these past couple of days because I've been trying to squeeze in as much time as possible to explore Miroflores and Lima some more before we fly off to Cusco and Machu Picchu for a couple of days.

We only have a few more days left at the school and it's getting kind of sad that our time with the kids are almost over. They are all such sweet kids and love you unconditionally. RP and I have been working on public health lessons with the kids and although it's tough to get the point across in Spanish most of the time, we're starting to see how our lessons are actually impacting their lives.

Tonight, we went to a delicious Italian restaurant right by Huaca Pucllana for some dinner and dessert. JD and I shared a 4 queso Gnocchi and wait for it .... A NUTELLA SHAKE. yes, they exist and yes, I will be making that everyday when I come home.

I also had to take out more money from my parents' visa because I've exhausted my funds :( I've bought so many souvenirs as of late, trying to make sure everyone has something from Peru when I come home! I bought a few Alpaca blankets for mine and CT's family and small things here are there, that I shouldn't disclose, for the element of surprise :)

I'm starting to feel sad that we have to leave Lima so soon to come back home. I can stay for another 2 weeks if possible!!! I want to explore some more, but i miss my dog, family, boyfriend and friends. However, I have plans to come back to Peru very soon, to explore some more, since my Spanish is at a level where I can survive in a foreign city!

That's all for now, I probably won't update again until I come back from Machu Picchu.

Hasta Luego, xoxo -m

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Desert Oasis

Hola!

It's really late at night, and I have to wake up early tomorrow morning to go to our school placement so I'll keep this post short and elaborate later.

We just came back tonight from our weekend trip to Huacachina and it was spectacular. I've never seen or experienced anything like it. We stayed at a "hotel" in Ica, right by a lagoon. It was a really nice place, considering where we stay at in Lima. The pool was AMAZING to hang out around, (I didn't take any pool pictures but other people did, so more to come on that) but a few girls and I just laid in the sun for 4 hours tanning our bodies out. We all got pretty dark which is awesome. The hotel was great, stocked with an amazing restaurant that served amazing booze. Amaretto Sour is my new favorite drink, its 100x better than the Pisco sour and you can't taste any of the Pisco! I'm going crazy just thinking about it now. Hanging out and eating by the pool was such a great way to unwind after a week of school!

By late afternoon at around 4pm, we went dunebuggying and sandboarding up the sand dunes. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I can't even describe how much fun those 2.5 hours of my life were. The dunebuggy ride was INSANE. We got so much air and went down such steep hills that I'm shocked that we're still alive. The view was amazing from the dunes and I tried to soak up every single feeling I had, as much as I can. We managed to catch the sunset just in time, before we hit our last hill to sandboard down. Every single thing this weekend was perfect. On sunday morning, we woke up bright and early at 6am to go to the Ballestas Island in Huacachina to go look at sea lions, a bigillion birds and PENGUINS, in their natural cave-ish habitat, it was pretty cool because we got super super close to them and managed to grab some really nice shots.

Anyways, it's been a long and exciting weekend, here are some pictures to recap!

Group shot at the sand dunes

Lagoon right by our Hotel

JD and I

I had to... LOL

WOOHOO! dunebuggy, see how dangerous they are? IT WAS AN AMAZING RIDE!

catching sunset

Sea Lions!

A beach where sea lions would raise they babies and teach them how to swim


Cute baby sea lion :)

Hasta luego, xoxo -m

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Chinita

Hola, it's been a while since I've written a post but I've been busy and just too lazy to write anything.

We started our work placement this week and it's been a lot of hectic work. I've been called Chinita at the school by 5 year olds more than every before (Chinita means chinese in Spanish). Peruvians are extremely racist fyi, they will call you anything to your face, or take pictures of you just because they're interested in your ethnicity.

Anyways, the community where we're in is extremely poor and low-income. The kids are so much fun, but it's hard to hang around them because they're so happy, but so extremely poor. We've been trying our best to work with the kids and be as enthusiastic as possible. RP, OA and I have been working hard trying to teach public health to these kids! It's been a lot of fun and I can't wait to share with you guys all our experiences.

This weekend, we're headed to Huacachina to sandboard/dunebuggy in the desert and hopefully soak up some sun and get a sweet tan. Pictures to come soon when we're back on sunday!

Here are some pictures from school...

Hasta luego,

xoxo -m